Cat owner: 'Psychopath' broke her pet's spine, shot it in head

WIXOM, Mich. (WJBK) - Just steps from her Wixom home on Woodbridge court, Candace Mozak says it is where her cat was found dead.

Her cat Lilly was apparently stomped on and shot in the head.

"It's not a person that killed Lilly. It's a psychopath," she said.

Mozak says her playful cat left the house Saturday morning to hang out in the neighborhood, like she always does - but never returned home. A neighbor, pulling out of her driveway later on Saturday, spotted her.

"I thought it was a rabbit and I got out," said Kathy Schuldt, who found the cat. "I said oh my God I think it's Lilly."

Lying dead, with her fur matted in the grass, neighbors thought an animal killed her.

"We kind of parted her hair back and saw a little hole in her head," Schuldt said.

Tearfully breaking the news to Mozak and curious how she died, Mozak took Lilly to the vet.

"When Doctor Burns said 'Do you want to know?' I said no. I could tell by his face."

Her vet showed Mozak the X-Ray, saying she was shot in the head with a BB gun.

"Someone stepped down on her and broke her spine," Mozak said. "She was still alive with a gun to her head."

Mozak says Lilly would have been paralyzed but did not have any internal injuries -- or cuts.

"He kicked her in this area," Mozak said. "The shot from her head went through her jaw which shattered her jaw."

Mozak called police and Monday, Wixom police turned the case over to Oakland County Animal Control. And although the cause of Lilly's death is unknown they say of course it wasn't natural.

"This cat has been wandering the neighborhood for eight years," said Schuldt. "And then suddenly it gets brutally murdered. It's horrible."

The folks with Oakland County Animal Control say they're canvassing the neighborhood and conducting interviews - but need your help.

"All she's known is love ... her whole life," Mozak said - adding what makes Lilly's death even more painful is that she had been her late sister's cat. Mozak's sister passed away.

"That was my last tie to my sister," Mozak said. "That was all I had left."

Now Mozak and neighbors hope the person who took Lilly's life is caught. and caught soon, afraid they may escalate.